Our use of cookies

Options

Back

We use cookies to help our site work, to understand how it is used, and to tailor the adverts presented on our site. By clicking “Accept” below, you agree to us doing so. You can read more in our
cookie notice. Or, if you do not agree, you can click Manage below to access other choices.

You can choose whether or not to accept advertising cookies from our advertising partner Google using the buttons below. If you choose not to, you will still see adverts on our site, because they help us to fund it, but those adverts will not be tailored to you. You can also choose not to accept session and analytics cookies through the settings in your browser, but some parts of our site might stop working as a result. You can also learn more in our
cookie notice.

Read More

The couple grow their own fruit and vegetables, making jams and preserves for the winter, they forage for mushrooms, berries and herbs, just like Tom and Barbara in the 1970s sitcom The Good Life.

Their terriers catch rabbits and use the fur to make blankets.

They smoke fish, meat and vegetables on a hand-built contraption.

Sarah, who taught English as a foreign language, and Nigel, who was an estate manager, like their little “luxuries” of chocolate, coffee and tobacco. So they have worked a few days each year in security and stewarding to afford treats and essentials, such as petrol for their boat.

Sarah told the Mirror : “It is hard. We have no running water and we dig compost toilets. But when you give up luxuries, you gain freedom and time. It is a pretty cheap existence without the stuff you tell yourself you need.”

Nigel said: “A lot of our time is spent just existing – gathering food, gathering wood, gathering water. We are pretty much living like they did in the 1930s.

“It’s not the lifestyle for everyone, but it’s better than the rat race.”

The couple met two years ago at a campsite where Sarah was living in a tent to save money and Nigel was doing odd jobs.

She said: “I realised I was in a beautiful setting. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t need that much any more.”

Read More

She was then making about £10,000 a year teaching, while Nigel earned around £5,000 a year from security work.

They gave it all up to take up the rent-free offer from the Rame Conservation Trust, which manages the fort.

They have become recycling experts, and Nigel trawls through skips to find bits and pieces which can be given a new lease of life.

He said: “I’ve always been a bit of a magpie. Every day people are burning usable stuff, burning wood that’s still got 20 years of life in it. The first cabin I built, all I had was a saw, a hammer and some reused nails. I’ve built five now, and lived in tree-houses and teepees.”

An iPhone given to Nigel by a friend and Sarah’s old laptop are their only mod cons, and they spend £10 a month to get access to the internet.